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The hunt is on - to track down the foxes in Tasmania before the start of breeding season.

Today sees the launch of Out Fox, a program devised by the Pest Animal Control CRC that is asking for the public's help in finding out where the foxes in Tasmania are hiding.

"It's a community based program for anyone who wants to be involved in all of Tasmania to participate in the eradication of the fox from the island," explained Dr Tony Peacock, the CEO of Pest Animal Control CRC.

Sometime in the last couple of years foxes were introduced into Tasmania. Apparently it was a deliberate act, perhaps for the purpose of hunting or perhaps in retaliation for Federal gun laws. Cubs from two litters are believed to have been smuggled into the state, reared in secret and let go in at least three separate locations.

The island has many small ground-dwelling mammals that are prime targets for foxes. The taskforce is concerned that the foxes will drive some of these animals to extinction.

There are between 16 and 19 foxes in Tasmania, and the urgency is that they are just going into the breeding season. Foxes breed once a year during the winter. "That will be starting up now in Tasmania," said Dr Peacock, "so this program is trying to involve as many people as possible to get, we hope, thousands of detection points for the fox."

"We have a lot of public support," said Professor Joan Dawes, the Chair of Pestat Pty Ltd a company that devises biological control programs for pests. "What we want to do is provide a training program to show the public what to do."

The program is aiming to spot signs of fox activity rather than sight the animals - foxes can be very secretive.

The group are calling on school students, farmers, conservationists, and anyone who is interested to make sand plots - using raked sand - so they can detect footprints.

"We know for instance that they like to walk down footpaths," said Professor Dawes. "And around chicken coops."

If people do see signs of fox activity they ring a fox hotline. The authorities will come in and deal with the fox. "We are not asking them to shoot them or anything," clarified Professor Dawes.

There are about 25 people on the fox taskforce who are currently spotlighting at night. "If they spot a fox they will have a go at shooting it if they have a clear shot," said Dr Peacock.

"But it is fairly unlikely," said Professor Dawes. "Foxes are very smart and know to hide."

The preferred method of eradicating the foxes will be with 1080 poison baits. 1080 is already used in Tasmania for other animal pests. "But this is a new application," said Professor Dawes.

"It's probably important to point out that they are meat-based poisons," explained Dr Peacock. In Tasmania there is some resistance to the use of 1080 because it has been used on carrots to kill native animals such as kangaroos on forestry land.

"We are specifically targeting carnivores by putting the poison in meat," said Professor Dawes. "And we will be minimising the impact on Tasmanian Devils by putting it up off the ground on logs." Foxes can climb and Tasmanian Devils cannot.

People will be warned to keep their dogs tied up during the program to eliminate the risk of domestic dogs eating the poison.

People interested in participating in the program should call Kaye Preece from the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association on 03 6331 6377. If you spot signs of a fox, call the Fox Free Task Force on 1300 369 688.